The world’s largest passenger aircraft, the Airbus A380, is to make a stop-over at Manchester Airport this weekend as part of a series of flights around the north-west.
Crowds of people are expected to descend on the northern gateway as the massive airliner performs a standard approach at 1.20pm this Saturday (July 12).
The double-decker plane – which has a maximum capacity of 853 passengers – will then travel on to Liverpool as a tribute to the city’s status as European Capital of Culture 2008.
Manchester’s T1 & T3 car parks will offer the best views of the behemoth landing – while for Liverpudlians the best vantage points will be the Liver Building and the New Brighton promenade.
A spokesman for Airbus told the Liverpool Echo that the visit will be a ‘thank you’ of sorts for the thousands of Merseyside employees who helped develop the A380.
He commented: “With many of its 7,000-strong workforce, plus suppliers and their friends and family being resident on the Wirral and in the Liverpool and Manchester areas, this tour will be something of a homecoming for the A380.”
